A crazy little thing called making up my own mind...

That picture is of me being dragged up to the door of Hagrid's cabin, before going on the Hippogriff ride inside of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I went there without ever having even cracked the spine of one of the books.  Without ever watching one of the movies.

I know, it's some kind of travesty.

So why did I go?  For the love of Kearsie.  You see, she was visiting Florida and made plans to go there.  So Winn was going to join her, as well as our friend, Carrie.  As badly as I wanted to see Kearsie, I wasn't going to go because of the price of the tickets and the fact that it was Harry Potter and I really didn't think I would have a good time.  Then Carrie got us a super sweet deal on the tickets, and I decided to tag along.

Even though it was 103 MILLION degrees outside and I was hotter than fiendfyre, I had the best. time. ever.  It was so much fun!  The main ride? The Forbidden Journey?  If you've been on any Universal ride, it's like that, only amplify it by about a gazillion because it's so good.  But I have to say, you won't have as much fun as I did because when you go, you won't have Kearsie laughing throughout the entire ride.  And for your sake, I hope that you stop screaming at just the right moment so you don't have acromantula venom sprayed into your mouth.

Anyway.  It was all kinds of awesome.

I knew that I had some friends who were a little eensy teensy weensy bit ticked that I got to go without ever having experienced anything Harry Potter prior to that point.  Well, other than being in the room when The Husband watched the movies when they were on ABC Family.  (Which, at the time, made me less interested, because when I looked up, one of the first things I saw was Dolores Umbridge, who is scarier than an Oompa Loompa.)

I had never read the books because of one thing: witchcraft.  In other words, I drank the conservative Christian Kool-Aid.  I didn't think that my friends who had read the books were big fat sinners or anything, because I believe that everyone has to decide for themselves on those things -- yet I hadn't decided for myself.

So after being intrigued by the WWOHP at Universal, and seeing the excitement of my friends at the park and hearing them talk about it, I borrowed the books from a friend.

And I finished them all in one week.

Ho.Ly.Cow.  THEY WERE SO GOOD!!!  Why didn't anyone tell me that they were so amazing?!  They probably thought I would dunk them in a barrel full of holy water or something.

So the books were excellent.

And what about the witchcraft?  The sorcery?

Well... As I read, I wondered to myself, "Why is good magic done by Gandalf the wizard in Lord Of The Rings okay, but good magic done by Dumbledore the wizard not?"  Or, "Why is it okay for the kids in Narnia to go through a magical wardrobe to an enchanted world, but it's not okay for Harry Potter and friends to go through a magical train platform to one?"

To me, there isn't a difference.  Magic is magic, and fiction is fiction.  

In discussing this with other moms, one asked me how I would talk to my kids about the books, seeing as witchcraft is real and, in our opinion, not good.

That made me think... There are real princesses, but I don't think their lives are like Cinderella's or Aurora's.  There are real pirates, but they don't go around with parrots on their shoulders saying "Arrr, matey!"  Also, most of the Barbie movies I have seen (and I have seen my share) include some kind of magic.  Tinkerbell is still pretty popular, and that's got all the changes of seasons being brought about by pixie dust rather than the hand of God.

So if I were to say that Harry Potter is off limits because of the magical element, then I would have to eliminate a ton of books and movies from our collection.

As for me and my house, as long as I feel that my girls can differentiate fact from fiction, and as long as I feel that they are not being led astray by the things they are reading and watching, I think Harry Potter will be welcome in our home.  Especially since... Well, I'm going to give my opinion on something, but because it would be something of a spoiler, I'm going to type it in white.  If you've read the books, you can read it.  If you haven't read them or have just watched the movies, don't highlight the next part: *Especially since, in my humble opinion, I can relate the story in Harry Potter to the fight between good and evil that we are all battling, the struggle with free will, and even the story of salvation -- hello, one man giving his life for the good of all mankind?! -- I think even better than I can with The Lord of the Rings.*

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But I'm still not picking up Twilight.